Clip forming and clinching die fixture



July 6, 1954 s. G. BLUMENSAADT 2,682,659

CLIP FORMING AND CLINCHING DIE FIXTURE Filed sept. 28, 1949 7 sheetssneet 1 INV-ENTOR. svn/a B- .Bwmwsn/mr BY 5MM-v Cl *fulfill July 6, 1954 s. G. BLUMENSAADT 2,682,659

CLIP FORMING AND CLINCHING DIE FIXTURE Filed Sept. 28, 1949 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTOR. SVEND G -BUNNSHHD7` July 6, 1954 s. G. BLUMENSAADT CLIP FORMING AND CLINCHING DIE FIXTURE Filed Sept. 28. 1949 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 JNVENTOR. S VEND E .EL UMH/$19527' Q' arr July 6, 1954 s. G. BLUMENsAAD-r 2,682,659

CLIP FORMING AND cLINcHING DIE FIXTURE Filed Sept. 28, 1949 '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 V15 6 INVENTOR.

S Vf/VD E BiL/HE'NSET M @LM/L.

July 6, 1954 s. G. BLUMENSAADT 2,682,659

CLIP FORMING AND CLINCHING DIE: FIXTURE Filed Sept. 28, 1949 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 JNVENTOR. BVE/VB B- .BLUMSNSHRDT e BY EE MQ'W'm-i July 6, 1954 s. G. BLUMENSAADT 2,682,559

CLIP FORMING AND CLINCHING DIE FIXTURE Filed Sept. 28, 1949 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 JNVENTOR. SVENZ? G Bi UHENSHPT July 6, 1954 s. G. BLUMENSAADT 2,682,659

CLIP FORMING AND CLINCHING DIE FIXTURE Filed sept. 28. 1949 7 sheets-sheet fr nvm/roza. y .SVENP Emana/50H07' Patented `luly 6, 1954 UNITED STA? 1i" ATENT OFFICE CLIP FORMING AND CLINCHING DIE FIXTURE Application September 28, 1949, Serial No. 118,355

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates in general to die xtures and more particularly to clip-forming and clinching die fixtures adapted to successively form clips and clinch same around members to be connected.

The primary object of the present invention is the provision of a clip-forming and clinching die fixture embodying a stationary die-shoe-supporting member and a shiftable die-punch-supporting member, the latter including an axially-rotatable die plate mounting a. plurality of die punches cooperating with the stationary die member in successively shaping sheet metal blanks to clips, and effecting clinching of these clips around wire members to be assembled to Wire structures.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a clip-forming and clinching die fixture embodying a stationary die-shoe-supporting member having a forming die shoe and a clinch- 1 ing die shoe, and a vertically shiftable, die-punchsupporting member including an axially-rotatable die plate mounting a plurality of die punches constructed to successively effect, in cooperation with the forming and clinching die shoes, f

forming of sheet metal blanks to U-shaped sheet The above and additional objects and novel l features of construction, combination and relations of parts by which the objects in view have been attained, will appear and are set forth in detail in the course of the following specification.

The drawings accompanying and forming part of the specication illustrate certain practical embodiments of the invention, but it will be apparent as the specification proceeds that the structure may be modified and changed in various ways without departure from the true spirit and broad scope of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the die xture embodying the invention, the xture showing the forming and clinching shoes attached to the bed plate of a punch press and the shiftable die punch supporting member attached to the ram of such punch press;

Fig. 1a is a fragmentary sectional view on line liz-la of Fig. 4;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view on line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig.. 3 is an end view of the xture shown in Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view through the fixture taken on line llof Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional View on line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a horizontal sectional view on line S- of Fig. l;

Fig. 7 is a bottom View of the shiftable diepunch-supporting member, the view being taken on line l-T of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view on line 8-8 of Fig. 4;

Fig, 9 is a sectional View through one of the die elements of the axially-rotatable die head c0- operating with the clip-forming station of the stationary die member;

Fig. 10 is a sectional view through one of the die elements of the axially-rotatable die head cooperating with the clinching station of the stationary die member;

Fig. l1 is a fragmentary section on line H-I I of Fig. 4; l

Fig. 12 is a perspective View of the slide of the feeding device;

Fig. 13 is a perspective view of one of the blanks for the clips; and

Fig. 14 is a perspective view of the preformed clip.

Referring now more in detail to the exemplied form of the invention shown in the drawings, reference numeral 2 denotes a stationaryV dieshoe-supporting member having its base plate 3,

Yby means of socket head screws i, attached to the bed plate 5 of a punch press of common construction (not shown). Base plate 3 (see Fig. 5) is of substantially circular outline with a cut-out portion 6 and supports a clip-forming die shoe 'l and a clinching die shoe the die shoes being attached to base plate 3 by socket head screws 9 and I il, respectively. The shoesupporting die member 2 cooperates with a vertically-shiftable, die-punch-supporting member Il (see Fig. l) secured to the ram l2 of the punch press by head screws lli threadedly engaged with bores 15 in the base plate it of shiftable die-punch supporting member il. This latter member (see Fig. 7) embodies a horizontally rotatable disk l1 which mounts four identically-constructed punches I8, l, 2! and 2| arranged and constructed to successively cooperate With die shoes l and 8 on base plate 3 when disk l1 is rotated step by step for successively forming metal clips from sheet metal blanks and clinching the clips about wire members manually-or automatically fed to clinching die shoe S and to be assembled to a wire structure.

The base plate I8 of die punch supporting member (see Figs. 1a and 5) has circular outline and includes an axial recessed bore 22 encircled at the top of the base plate by a large, recessed portion to form a working chamber 23 for a rack and pinion drive arrangement 24. The pinion 25 of this arrangement is coupled by a ratchet drive 26 with a shaft 21 rotatably mounted in a bearing 28 which is extended into the lower portion of bore 22. The shaft 21 is formed with a circular flange 29 seated on a washer 29 resting on the circular shoulder 3D in recessed bore 22 and is thus rotatably suspended from base plate I5. The rack and pinion drive arrangement 24 with pinion 25 and rack bar 3|, slidably arranged in a slot 32 intersecting chamber.23, has the pinion 25 releasably coupled with shaft 21 by ratchet drive 26. This ratchet drive embodies an outer ring 33 keyed to pinion 25 by keys 34, a ratchet-like wheel 35 and springpressed steel balls 35 which couple wheel 35 with the outer ring 33 when shifted by springs 31 on sloping planes 38 of wheel 35 into engagement with the inner wall of outer ring 33. The wheel 35, keyed to shaft 21 by keys 35 is rotated by the ratchet drive 2B in left handed direction by a left handed rotation of pinion 25 when such wheel by balls 35 is coupled with ring 33.

The disk I1 (see Figs. 1a and 8) which is mounted on shaft 21 and keyed to said shaft by key members 39 is held in place by a washer 4G and a hexagonal screw 4| threaded into said shaft. Disk |1 is formed with an axial bore 42 and has its face opposite base plate i6 recessed to seat two ring-shaped steel disks 43 and 34. Steel disk 43 is attached to base plate i6 by screws 45 and includes four cone-shaped recesses 46 for spring-pressed steel balls 41. These steel balls are shiftably arranged in` cylindrical bushings 48, press fitted in holes 49 of disk l1 and extended through bores of steel disk 44. The holes 49 are closed 'by end plate 5| and located to align in predetermined positions bushings 48 with the cone-shaped recesses 45 to hold disk i1 in predetermined positions by the steel balls e1 which are forced into said recesses by compression springs 52.

The thus constructed disk l1 (see Figs. '1 and 8) is frictionally held against free rotation by a spring-pressed, friction drag shoe member 53 embodying a friction shoe 54 yieldingly forced into engagement with the peripheral surface 55 of the disk by a compression spring 53, the tension of which is adjustably controlled by a screw member 51. Spring-pressed, friction-shoe drag member 53 is slidably mounted in a bore 53 of a bracket 59 which is secured by screw members 53 to a plate 6| mounted on base plate |6, and secured together with said base plate to the ram of the punch press previously referred to.

The disk l1 is intermittently rotated 'by the rack and pinion drive arrangement 23, the rack bar 3| of which is oscillated by a slide feed arrangement 62 (see Figs. 1 and 2) actuated by the punch press as will be described hereinafter. For such purpose rack bar 3|, guided in the slot 32 of base plate l5 and a channel-like member 63 aligned with slot 32, mounts at one end a cam follower B4 which is actuated upon by a cam member 65 effecting oscillatory movements of the rack bar. Cam member E5 is provided with an L-shaped cam slot 66 for cam follower $4 and mounts at one end a shaft 61 extended through a bore BB of said member and secured thereto by a screw 69. The shaft 61 is freely-rotatably supported in a housing 10 which supports a bell crank 1|, one arm 12 of which is hinged to cam member 55 by links 13, and the other arm 14 of which is connected to the slide arrangement 52. To that effect arm 1li of bell crank 1| carries at its free end a swivel member 15 which is held in swivel connection with arm 14 by a shaftlike screw member 15, and has laterally extended therefrom perforated ear 11 hinged to the bifurcated end 18 of a longitudinally bell crank 1| with necting rod 19, connecting the bell crank 1| with crank member 30 of slide feed arrangement 52. The slide feed arrangement is attached to the rotary brake drum 8| of the punch press and embodies a housing 82 secured to said brake drum by screw members '83. This housing is formed with a key .slot 86.. slidably adjustably mounting crank member 8|) which includes a ball-like member 35 coupled with the free end portion of connecting rod 19 to provide a universal joint connection between rod 1S and crank member 80.

Clip-forming die shoe 1 is fed with blanks 85 (see Fig. 13) by a feed device 81 (see Figs. 1 and 3) mounted adjacent to the clip-forming die shoe. This device embodies a housing 88 supporting a magazine 89 for blanks 86, which magazine is open at its bottom end and attached to the top wall 9|! of housing 83 by screws 9| opposite an opening in said top wall eiecting open communication between the magazine 83 and a guide channel 92 extending below the top wall 93 adjacent to the top of clip-forming die shoe 1. The guide channel 92 slidably mounts a pusher plate 93 having the thickness of the die blanks to be fed to clip-forming die shoe 1, and this pusher plate is attached to front end 94 of a slide frame 95 which is slidably mounted on rails 96 attached to the wall of housing 8'3. The slide frame 95 includes an elongated opening 31 and supports crosswise of said opening, substantially midway thereof, a pin member 98 which is slidably engaged by the fork-shaped end 98 of the one arm |33 of a bell-crank-like member |0|. Shaft |32, rigidly attached to bell crank member lili between its arms |05] and |03, pivotally mounts this member in the upwardly extended side walls |04 of housing 88. The bell crank arm |53 slidably engages with its forkshaped end H25 a pin |35 which is mounted in a fork-shaped bracket |01 secured to an elongated metal plate |38 arranged adjacent to plate 6|.

Clip forming and clinching operations are effected by the clip-forming die shoe 1 and clinching die shoe 8 in cooperation with each one of the die punches |8, I9, 20 and 2 I. These punches are attached to the bottom of the disk |1 by means of'screws |09 (see Fig. 1) in such a manner that each quarter revolution of disk I1 aligns one of the punches |8, I9, 20 and 2| with forming die shoe 1 and another one of said die punches with clinching die shoe 8. The clip-forming and clinching action of each of the punches |8, |9, 2|! and 2| will best be understood from Figs. 9 and 10 showing in Fig. 9 one of the punches |8, I9, 20 and 2|, to wit punch |8, cooperating with forming die shoe 1, and in Fig. 10 such punch I8 after rotation with disk |1 cooperating with die shoe 8 in clinching the clip previously formed by forming die 1 around wire members to be connected. All the punches |8, I9, 20 and 2| being identical in Shape and construction, description of one of the punches, to wit: punch I8 is suincient. Punch I8 includes a die block IIIl shaped to form in cooperation with the die shoe TI a clip blank 86 (see Fig. 13) to a U-shaped clip II4 (see Fig. 14), the clip blank including a central area III with an enlongated cutout II2 having rounded corners H3. The U-shaped clip II4 embodies the said central area III and symmetrically arranged rounded recesses II5 adjacent to said central area, which recesses have flanged portions I I 6 integrally extended therefrom.` The die block IIO (see Fig. 9) has shiftably mounted in parallelly arranged recessed bores IIT two shouldered spring pressed plunger members IIB which include cone shaped ends II9 and are yieldingly forced out of block IIU by springs |20. Plunger .members II8 are dimensioned to frictionally engage the rounded corners IIS of the elongated cutout portion |I2 so as to frictionally hold the formed metal clip and carry same to the die shoe 8 for clinching operations when disk I'I is rotated. The die shoe 'I includes a die block I2I having a protruding cylindrical portion |22 adapted to effect in conjunction with die block III) shaping of the blank 86 to the U-shaped clip II4.

The die block I2I embodies two spring pressed ejector pins |23 which tend to eject the U- shaped clip I I4 from die shoe 'I and facilitate lifting of a formed clip I I4 from said die shoe by the plunger members II8 of the punches.

In clinching operations each punch cooperates with clinching die shoe 8 (see Fig. l0) embodying a die block |24 provided with parallelly arranged grooves |25 which seat the wire members R, R to be connected, which wire members have been fed into the grooves either manually or automatically. Grooves I 25 are spaced to extend opposite the recesses ||5 of a preformed clip IIII and shaped to effect inward turning of the hanged portions I IE of such clip to encircle the said wire members to be connected. The die block |24 includes a central spring pressed plunger |26 which in clipping operations yieldingly forces the spring pressed plunger members II8 of a punch upwardly to free preformed clip |I4 from said members and insure proper clinching operations. Plunger |26 is forced upwardly by a spring I2I, the compression force of which is larger than the combined compression force of springs |29 actuating upon plunger members IIB.

When mounted on a punch press, as described above, feed arrangement 62 effects at the beginning of each down stroke of the press one fourth revolution of disk I'I, as slide feed arrangement 62 actuates-thrcugh bell crank 1I cam member 65 and cam follower 64-the rack and pinion drive arrangement 24. Rotation of disk Il is limited to one fourth of a revolution by the L- shaped slot 66 in cam member 65 which slot provides a positive drive connection between cam member 65 and cam follower 64 only for approximately one-half of the downward stroke of the punch press and thereafter permits a lost motion between cam member 65 and cam follower 64, so that disk I'I is held at a stand-still. during clip forming and clinching operations. Proper stopping of disk I'I is effected by the spring-pressed steel balls lII in cooperation with the cone-shaped recesses 46 in steel disk 43 and the spring-pressed friction drag shoe member 53.

'I'he above referred to one-half downward stroke of the punch press simultaneously effects feeding of a clip blank 86 by actuation of bell crank member IUI, effecting shifting of pusher plate 93 and therewith transfer of the lowest clip blank in magazine 89 to die shoe 8. Further downward movement of the ram of the punch press effects extension of the respective one of four guide pins I 28 attached to the bottom face of disk |'I by screws |29 into a guide member |30 which is seated on the 'top of plate 3 and is attached thereto by screws I3I, forming of the die blank on die shoe 'I by the respective one of the punches I8, I9, 20 and 2| to a U-shaped clip II4, and clinching of another previously formed U- shaped clip around the wire members R, R manually or automatically fed into the grooves |25 of die shoe 8 by the respective one of punches I8, I9, 20 and 2 I. The disk |'I is not rotated by upward movement of the ram of the punch press as ratchet clutch drive 26 is activated only by left hand rotation of pinion 25. In operation the die fixture effects stopping of the punch press after each stroke by actuation of a minute switch |32 actuated by a plurality of spaced lugs I 93 secured at predetermined positions to the peripheral wall of disk I1.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a die xture for successively forming clips from blanks and clinching the clips around wire members, a base, a stationary clip-forming die shoe and a stationary clip-clinching die shoe mounted on said base, an intermittently, horizontally rotatable member arranged above said die shoes in vertically shiftable arrangement with respect thereto, a plurality of identically constructed punches mounted in spaced relation on said rotatable member, and a clip pick up and supporting means mounted on cach of said punches, each punch with its pick up and supporting means being arranged to successively form a clip by cooperation with the clip-forming die shoe, transfer the clip to the clip-clinching die shoe, and clinch the clip around a wire member by cooperation with the clip-clinching die shoe.

2. In a die fixture as described in claim l, a non-rotatable, vertically shiftable supporting member rotatablymounting said horizontally rotatable member, and driving means adapted to intermittently rotate said horizontally rotatable member, said driving means including a driven reciprocatory element mounted on said supporting member and a one-way clutch member coupling said driven element with the said horizontally rotatable member, said one-way clutch member adapted to effect in cooperation with said driven reciprocatory element a one-way step by step rotation of the horizontally rotatable member when the driven reciprocatory element of the driving means is reciprocated.

3. In a die fixture as describedl in claim l, a non-rotatable, vertically shiftable supporting member rotatably mounting the horizontally rotatable member, driving means on the base and the said supporting member including a reciprocally drivenelement, a rotary element engaged with said latter element anda one-way clutch member coupling the rotary element with the horizontally rotatable member, said driving means, when actuated, adapted to effect a oneway step by step relation ofthe horizontally rotatable member, a stationary blank feeding device arranged adjacent to the clip-forming die shoe, said blank feeding device including reciprocatory blank feeding means, and actuating lever means coupling said feeding means with said vertically shiftable supporting member to effect timed actuation of the blank feeding device when the vertically shiftable supporting member is shifted in opposite directions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Chrstianson May 18, 190 Schellenbach Aug. 31, 191 Ford May 24, 192 Bozsn July 19, 192

Number 8 Name Date Church Dec. 23, 1941 Gibbs May 12, 1942 Andren Feb. 1, 1944 Geertsema May 9, 1944 Herzog Oct. 3, 1944 Finzel Jan. 9, 1945 Neuhaus et al Oct. 8, 1946 Thompson Jan. 10, 1950 Beekman Apr. 3, 1951 

